He urged Steve Hansen's successor as Wales coach to do everything in his power to retain the services of fitness guru Andrew Hore.

Ruddock was due to have talks with the New Zealander, whose contract runs out at the end of the season yesterday .

It is believed Hore, a product of the University of Otago, has been head-hunted by New Zealand netball chiefs - that sport is big in the land of the long white cloud.

There is reputed to be unhappiness among some of the Wales management team about the way in which they learned of Ruddock's appointment as national coach, particularly that the Welsh Rugby Union had not informed them of its approach to the Dragons boss.

Llewellyn, who will equal Neil Jenkins'' Welsh cap record of 87 if he makes an appearance during Wales' Six Nations championship finale against Italy at the Millennium Stadium next Saturday, hopes the discussions will iron out any problems.

"Andrew Hore is, without doubt, the best conditioning coach I have worked with," said the 35-year-old former Wales skipper.

"He turned up two years ago, has got fantastic enthusiasm, does very specific things and, individually, conducts one to one training.

"The boys think the world of him. I hope things go as planned and Horey and assistant coach Scott Johnson stay on board.

"Physically, we have made massive strides since Horey arrived. Young players are bound to make progress but the boys have got the willingness to work and learn."

Lock Llewellyn called on Ruddock to stick with the blue-print of Hansen Hore and Johnson.

"What I look at is how the boys are developing. This side will go on to be very good," he predicted.

"I really enjoy being part of it. All the things people say about enthusiasm for training and bumps taking longer to recover from as you get older doesn't seem to have happened to me.

"But I accept I can't go on for ever. Perhaps, at the end of this championship, I will consider my position, but I don't think I'll ever want to give up.

"It might take two or three years, but I believe Wales are going to get better and better. It is going to be a long-term process, but we will make it as short as we can.

"Sometimes we have had one or two good games like at the World Cup and people think we are there. When we start winning consistently we will be able to say that.

"The gap to the best sides is getting closer all the time. But that final five per cent, that's the hard bit.

"The moment our set-pieces improve and the more ball we get the more we are going to put the opposition in trouble.

"We still fancied our chances against England, even after they regained the lead in the second half. The boys felt we could get to the other end and score. With 10 minutes to ge we were in with a shout.

"I found England really predictable. They just played one-up rugby, trying to smash their way through. I don't think they were very creative.

"It is easy to say they were without Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson, but every team goes through peaks and troughs.

"Our set-piece was shaky. If we had won more ball we would have had a better chance.

"I don't think there was anything wrong with our line-out; we just seem to get bogged down. We need to get more tempo into it.

"The way coach Steve Hansen and Scott have got us playing is spot on."